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I modified my hosts file in Windows this morning to block some ads. It ended up nearly bricking my Win 10 machine. Press the start button and type "cmd" and nothing showed up. Windows Defender decided it was a virus that modified the file and blocked all Internet. 90 minutes later and lots of help, we rolled back the hosts file to empty and my machine is working again.
Hogan
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That's odd. I have never heard of it doing that. My hosts file is over 620KB and I add to it almost weekly. WD has never done anything like that to me.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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I found a git repo[^] that listed a large set, the file was over 14mb. Maybe it was the giant size difference. Ultimately booted to command line and renamed the file and then created an empty one.
Hogan
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u could actually make a selective one rather...14mb would have a lot.. and chances of breaking msf and google links...also amzon... considering most of the host have shared js etc...if u really want to test you need to turn off windows security completely and also set exclusion etc..and do proper web access testing ... since you blocked most of the net you should be secure...
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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If blocking sites using the hosts file is the sort of thing you like to do, you might be a candidate for Pi-hole.
Despite its name, it's not just for the Raspberry Pi. I have it running on a tiny VM running Debian dedicated to it. My machines now use the VM's IP as their primary DNS, so all devices on my network get all the same sites blocked.
The community at large is maintaining the list, so it's pretty good and up to date. Of course, you can add your own blacklist/whitelist.
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I think I'll do that for home, but at the office its probably a bad idea 
Hogan
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Well, as long as only your own system(s) are using Pihole for their DNS, it really shouldn't affect anyone else. In theory.
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snorkie wrote: at the office its probably a bad idea
Obviously if you are in a corporate environment (your IT dept should be blocking the crap for you anyway), but if it is a small company with local IT expertise, pi-hole would probably be ideal.
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
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My host file is "mostly" the MVPS one, but some custom entries are added to that.
Meaning, no ads on youtube. No insecure ads loaded on the machine, all is blocked, every site. It is my machine and I control what gets executed and what isn't even downloaded. Anyone can buy ads and spread malicious code.
It's a little program in C# that keeps it up to date. For a few computers 
Modifying the host file doesn't impact the abilities of the "run" command on Windows, so that has nothing to do with cmd not executing.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Would you be interested in sharing? We do a lot of stuff in C# and I'm always on the lookout for improved ways to block unwanted data from hitting our network. We use a robust 3rd party Endpoint service and are pretty happy with it, but this thread caught my eye.
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Can rewrite it in C# in a bit, it's not a piece of art or complex. Might be worth an article. Basically, you send a header to the MVPS host file, asking if there's a change to the file since that date. If it is, download and put it somewhere (I used SQLite, to propagate across my linked pc's). Add your own domains to it, merging two text files. Then overwrite your hostfile.
Could prolly be done from a powershell script, but for me it was quicker in C# because I have more familiarity with C#.
The PI Hole might work better, especially for a network, and your host file should not be huge. I like it because it works nicely on laptops where the PI Hole isn't always available. But basically it is download and merge, and the only nice thing about it is that it asks the MVPS host file if it changed, and if it didn't it won't download again. So, not a huge project, but I find it valuable for the moments that all other stuff fails.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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I don't mind adding to my hosts file on a weekly basis. The "problem" I had was the constant renaming (hosts to hosts.tmp and vice-versa) when a legitimate site wouldn't load and I needed the hosts files turned off for a second. I then started using HostsMan. Things are way simpler now.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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I rarely edit my hosts file these days: I opted instead for setting up a Pi Hole on a Raspberry Pi. It’s got 1.5 MM entries in it from various lists. All devices on my LAN point to it as the DNS.
Time is the differentiation of eternity devised by man to measure the passage of human events.
- Manly P. Hall
Mark
Just another cog in the wheel
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Same. Works like a champ and Windows can't stop the magic.
Jeremy Falcon
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It's so chewed I can't tell if it's 2B or not 2B.
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell.
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"Tis the times' plague, when madmen are blind to the lead." Or something like that.
There are no solutions, only trade-offs. - Thomas Sowell
A day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do.
- Calvin (Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes)
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I once used Tolkien's pencil when I took a test, but I didn't pass. 
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You were not thrown off a bridge for that, obviously.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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He knew his favorite color.
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C# is not far behind. 
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Well, it's no longer a teenager, that's for sure!
C# is even allowed to drink booze in the USA ... which would explain some of the additions they have made in recent years, come to think about it! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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It's been over a decade and a half I've touched anything C++.
If that's where it is today, this just about convinced me I should try very, very hard to never go back.
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Top uni briefly lied about being constrained (7)
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